


Pawprints

by Lyra_Kero



Series: Do You See a Clue? [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blues Clues - Freeform, Famous Lance (Voltron), Keith is good with kids, M/M, Unconventional Puppy Obtainment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29367213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyra_Kero/pseuds/Lyra_Kero
Summary: At daycare one day, Ren and his friends find something new and exciting. How long can they keep it a secret from their teacher?
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Do You See a Clue? [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1208634
Comments: 9
Kudos: 58





	Pawprints

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this rolling around in my head for a while, and while I'm not sure how it got to this, I just  
> I really wanted to bring him into this fic.  
> :)

The snow that had fallen the night before was still around, but not thick enough to close down the daycare. That was fine, since Ren loved going to daycare. He loved seeing all his friends and the thought of being able to go out and play in the snow made him antsy as Adam carefully wrapped him up in a scarf to keep him warm.

And he did have fun. When Miss Florona let the class out after lunchtime, he and his friends all began building a snowman. It was huge! And it was thanks to Chad Bowers being able to reach higher than them and pack more snow on top. Ren sacrificed his scarf, Chad reached up to mark where the face was going to be. Markie was taking off his gloves while Jenny held up her sparkly kitty cat headband to put on the snowman’s head, since they didn’t have a hat.  
“Why would a snowman want to wear a kitty cat headband?” Chad asked, frowning as Jenny carefully untangled pieces of her hair that had gotten caught in her headband.  
“Cause he wants to look cute!” she said, managing to free her thick hair and held it up.

Chad stared at her, before taking the band and carefully putting it on the snowman. “It’s a cat snowman, now!” Ren said, giggling happily, while Jenny ran off to go find some sticks and rocks for the snowman. When she didn’t come back, Markie ran off to go find her, grabbing his stuffed dinosaur toy that he’d put down while they worked on the snowman.

When Markie also failed to return in a timely manner, Chad frowned, looking around. “Where did they go?”  
“Dunno,” Ren frowned, “playtime’s almost over.”

“Ugh.” Ren looked back over and saw Chad was pouting, arms crossed over his chest. It had been Chad who wanted to build the snowman, so Ren could see why he was upset.  
“Come on, let’s go find them!” Ren reached out a hand and, after a moment, Chad grabbed it, allowing the younger boy to tug him along as they looked for their other friends.

They found them on the other side of the yard, huddled in a corner. “Hey!” Chad yelled out, before Ren gave a sharp tug on his arm, “I mean, guys, how come you didn’t come back?”  
The other two had jumped when Chad had yelled, before quietly shushing him. Chad glared, ready to yell again, before Ren stopped him by talking instead.  
“What are you doing?” His other two friends looked at each other, then carefully moved, shifting to make room for the other two. When Ren and Chad joined the group, Ren gasped out, cooing excitedly. Chad just knelt down.  
“ _It’s a puppy!_ ” Ren squealed, starting to reach out, before Chad stopped him.  
“He’s scared." Chad said, shooing the others back.  
“We’ve been trying to get him to play with us.” Jenny said, “But he didn’t want to come over.”  
“I even offered to let him play with my Dino.” Markie added, holding up his beloved dinosaur toy.  
“Why’s a puppy here?” Ren asked, watching as Chad held up a hand, making quiet noises.

The puppy was small, grey with little black and white stripes along its body. It blinked, shaking as it kept huddled up in the corner. But Chad continued to make quiet sounds, the puppy seemed to calm down and settle. It still didn’t move, but it didn't seem like it was shaking anymore.  
“What are we gonna do?” Jenny asked. “ Playtime’s almost over.”  
“Maybe Miss Florona will let us take it inside?” Ren asked, looking over his shoulder. She hadn’t come out yet to call them in.  
Chad stopped trying to coax the puppy closer and frowned, looking back to Ren. “I don’t think she will.” he said. “Grown ups don’t like puppies. That’s why they turn them into big dogs.”  
“I bet Miss Florona will!” Ren pouted. “We can have a puppy if we ask her!”

It was then that the group of friends heard Miss Florona. They turned and saw her standing by the open door, allowing kids back inside. “Come on!” she yelled, spying the group in the corner. “Let’s get back inside and warmed up!”  
The friends frowned and looked back to the puppy, who had yet to move, but the ears had perked up at the new sound. It carefully moved closer, seeming to favor one of its rear paws, but stopped once it got to Chad. He froze, before carefully holding a hand down. The puppy sniffed it, then gave it a careful lick, and the older boy smiled as he began to pet the puppy. Miss Florona called out to them again.  
“We can’t leave the puppy out here.” Jenny said, frowning as she carefully came closer, mimicking Chad and held out her hand. The puppy flinched when she moved her hand too fast, but gave her a tentative sniff and a lick of permission to pet. Soon the others also had been giving puppy access.  
“Let’s bring it with us.” Ren said. “She won’t make us take it back out here, it’s too cold.”

Chad carefully unzipped his coat, and held the puppy close. With some help, he zipped the coat back up and held onto the suspiciously puppy shaped lump. “Come on!”

The group of friends hurried back into the daycare before Miss Florona could call out a third time, being the last children into the daycare.

Everything had been fine, the group carefully piled their coats in the closet and laid the puppy down on them, then carefully covered it with another coat to hide it away. The puppy seemed okay with it, and laid down. Miss Florona was none the wiser, having been corralling the other children into a semicircle for the next lesson. But while Miss Florona was reading them a story about a cat trying to prove a bunny was a vampire, when something happened that wasn’t fine.  
Miss Florona stopped, looking up when she heard the telltale sound of a distressed puppy.  
“What was that?” The whole group of kids also turned, except for the four that knew what it was. The group of friends fidgeted, listening as the puppy whined again, louder and Miss Florona set the book down. “Stay here.” she said, gently. “I’ll be right back.”

When she got to the closet, and gasped, the rest of the kids began to turn, a few standing up, asking what it was.  
Miss Florona carefully extracted the puppy, holding it close and the children went wild, a few hurrying over excitedly, stopping only when Miss Florona told them to stay back. She looked along the group of children, a lot excited. And four who looked guilty. “Who brought this puppy into the daycare?” she asked, watching the four friends face turn even more guilty, all of them looking down.

It wasn’t hard to figure out who it was, “I’m not upset.” she said, gently. “But we can’t have puppies in the classroom.”  
“I told you grown ups hate puppies.” Chad mumbled, looking over to Ren, who shrunk a bit more into himself. Jenny looked up to Miss Florona, eyes wide with tears.  
“But Miss Florona, it’s cold outside! And the puppy was cold!”  
“And its back leg is hurt!” Markie added on. “We didn’t want to leave it all alone!”  
“Please don’t put it back outside.” Ren finally looked up, sniffling. “It was scared!”  
“We just wanted to warm it up.” Chad finally added, shoulders still hunched up to his ears. “Please don’t be mad at us.”

And that was how the situation was explained to Keith when he came to pick Ren up from daycare. Jenny and Markie’s parents were also there, as was Chad’s father, but he had immediately taken his son home after. The other parents all sat down, watching their children gently pet the puppy, who was currently resting.  
“We can’t have the puppy stay here,” Florona explained, “I’ve told that to the children. We can’t have potential allergy issues.”

Markie’s parents shared a look, “Why not just call a pet rescue place?” his father asked, “They’d be able to take the puppy and care for it, won’t they?”  
“The children have grown attached to it.” Florona said, “They’ve been arguing over what to name it. I think they’ve narrowed it down to Toothless, Casserole and Charizard” She smiled faintly, “I promised them I’d talk with you about it, in the hopes one of you would be able and willing to take the puppy in.”

At that, Jenny’s parents shook their heads. “We can’t,” her mother explained. “My father is staying with us, and he doesn’t care for animals. We had a hard time winning him over when we got Jenny her pet rabbit.”

Similarly, Markie’s parents declined. “Our apartment has a strict _no pets allowed_ policy.” they explained. “We’d lose our deposit if we brought a puppy home.”

Florona then looked towards Keith, who tensed. “Adam’s allergic to dogs.” he said, “I don’t think he and my brother would be willing to take it in.”  
“What about you?” Keith turned, seeing Ren by his side, eyes wide and hopeful. “You gots Marmalade, so you can take him, right uncle Keith?”

Keith blinked, “I,” he sighed, “Ren, I don’t know if Marmalade will like having a puppy around.” he said. “Plus, Miss Florona said he’s hurt, and I don’t know if I have the money to cover the vet bill.”  
“Dad and Papa will help.” Ren said, without missing a beat. “I can give you what I have in my piggybank, too!” His eyes widened as he gasped. “Lance can, too! He has to take care of Blue, so I bet he will help take care of the puppy!”  
Keith raised his hand, rubbing his face. “Ren, buddy.” he said, slowly, “my apartment isn’t that big. I won’t have a lot of room.”  
“He can sleep on the Secret Bed!” Ren smiled more, “Please, uncle Keith?”  
Keith frowned, about to try and explain to Ren how he wouldn’t be able to take the puppy in, when his gaze moved to the other children. They had all gathered around, looking up at him, hopefully. Behind them, the puppy was still asleep, curled up and looking _very adorable_.

“ _Please_ uncle Keith?”  
“ _Pretty please_ , Mister Keith?”  
“ _Pretty, pretty please_ take care of the puppy!”

Keith crumbled when the puppy lifted its head, blinking towards Keith with beautiful puppy blue eyes and wagged its tail once.  
“Shiro is never going to let me live this down.” Keith slumped in his chair, taking out his phone.

The deafening cheer of the children made it a bit better when he explained later why there was a puppy in the backseat next to Ren when he dropped his nephew off. He then dropped the puppy off at the vet’s office for a check up, and was given news that he’d been expecting.  
“It looks like a fracture.” the technician explained. “You said you found him in a daycare?”  
“My nephew did,” Keith said, “but yeah. I think he and his friends found him and smuggled him into the daycare proper.”

“Well, thankfully it doesn’t look too bad. My guess would probably be he was dumped over the fence, and he landed wrong.” the technician smiled sadly. “We can go in and set the bone, and it’ll probably be about a month or so before he’s fully healed.”

Keith smiled, “That’s great. My nephew will be happy.”

When the vet told him how much it would be, Keith sent a small apology to his bank account.  
There went his savings for a motorcycle.

Later that night, Lance walked into the small apartment, smiling as he kissed his boyfriend. “Hey, babe.” he said, planting another kiss to the tip of Keith’s nose, making the other man snort out a giggle. “What are you making? It smells,” he paused, staring.

The couch was folded out, and a small puppy with a too big cone was laying on it, surrounded by toys. Marmalade the cat was quietly curled up beside the pup, and the two were sleeping peacefully. “What.” Lance whisper-squealed.

“So, Ren and his friends found a puppy at daycare today.” Keith explained, walking past. He reached down, giving each pet a small pat. “And I somehow got swindled into taking care of him.”  
“What’s his name?” Lance slowly made his way over. He knelt down and frowned, seeing the cast, wrapped in a cute bone patterned plaster wrapping. “What happened to him?”  
“Fracture.” Keith frowned, watching his boyfriend gently pet the sleeping puppy, who shifted and opened his eyes. He wagged his tail, leaning into the pets. “We think whoever had him last just tossed him over the fence of the daycare, otherwise he hurt himself somehow and hobbled into the yard a different way.”

“Poor baby.” Lance cooed, moving to pet the puppy. “What’s his name?”  
“We’re deciding between Charizard, Casserole and Toothless.” Lance snorted, laughing as he looked up towards Keith.  
“The kids?” he asked, and Keith nodded.  
“They couldn’t decide on a name, so for now I’ve just been calling him Pupper and Pup.” He looked back to the puppy, who tilted his head. “I really hope he doesn’t start thinking either of those are his name, though.”

“What about Kosmo?” Keith blinked, looking back towards Lance, who was still smiling and petting the pup, but had moved his other hand to pet Marmalade, as the cat had woken up and was now demanding attention as well.  
“Kosmo, huh?” Keith looked towards the puppy, who was wagging his tail. “I’ll ask Ren tomorrow when I pick him up.”

Lance smiled, laughing when Kosmo wiggled closer, smacking him in the face with his cone as he tried to assault him with kisses. Keith’s heart probably melted even further as he took out his phone to take some pictures of the cute scene before him.

Ren smiled, giggling happily when he saw his uncle walk into the daycare. “Uncle Keith!” he cried out, racing over and flinging himself into his uncle’s arms. Like always, Keith caught up and spun him around, causing the young boy to laugh louder.  
“Hey, buddy.” Keith carefully set Ren back down. “Ready to go?”  
“Yeah!” Ren raced over to grab his backpack, “How’s Casserole? Can I see him?”

“His name is Charizard.” Chad hurried over, frowning at Ren not saying the right name.  
“Nuh-uh! It’s Toothless!” Markie and Jenny had made their way over, the latter placing her hands on her hips, the former nodding in agreement.

Keith sighed, before kneeling down. “Hey, I have a suggestion.” he said, causing the kids to look over at him. “What about naming him Kosmo?”  
The four kinds blinked, before smiling brightly. “Kosmo?” Markie asked, “Like, from space?”  
“Yeah.” Keith said, “Do you all like that name?”  
The four kids cheered, nodding happily.

“Uncle Keith, can I go see Kosmo?” Ren asked, again, bouncing up and down in excitement.  
“He’s still healing, buddy. He needs to rest for a while.” Ren frowned, but Keith placed a hand on his head. “Once he’s all better you can see him, okay?”  
“Me too?” Jenny asked, smiling brightly.  
“And me?” Markie added. Chad didn’t say anything, but he looked hopeful.

“Yes, all of you can see him.” Keith smiled and laughed when the four cheered again.

“Uncle Keith?” Ren looked up towards his uncle as they made their way back to Ren's house.  
“Yeah?” Keith glanced back at his nephew in the rearview mirror, turning his attention back to the road.  
“You’re gonna keep the puppy a puppy, right?”

Keith blinked, “What?” he wasn’t sure what that question meant.  
“Chad says grown ups don’t like puppies. So they turn them into big dogs. But you like Kosmo, so you won’t turn him into a big dog. You’ll keep him a puppy, right?”  
Oh.

“Ren, puppies _grow up_ into big dogs.” Keith explained, smiling gently. “We can’t keep them as puppies forever. They change on their own. Like how I used to be little like you and grew up, or how your dad and papa grew up. It just happens.”  
Ren was quiet, and when Keith chanced another glance, he saw his nephew’s eyes were wide with fear. “Ren?”

“Does that mean _I’m_ gonna grow up?” he asked.  
“Yeah, buddy.” Keith frowned, keeping an eye on the road as he made the turn to pull into his brother’s driveway. He already saw Adam at the door, bringing in groceries with Shiro.

When Keith parked the car, Ren started wailing, sobbing and crying loudly. Loud enough to alert his parents, who both raced over while Keith turned in the car, panicked. “Ren? Buddy?”  
The backdoors were pulled open and Shiro and Adam were on either side of their son, who was crying louder.  
“Keith, what happened?” Shiro demanded, while Adam quietly tried to calm Ren down.  
“He just asked me about Kosmo,” Keith explained, “he thought puppies could stay puppies, and I told him that puppies grow up like people do.”

Ren wailed louder, and through his sobbing the three adults heard him choke out, _“I don’t wanna grow up!!”_

**Author's Note:**

> Tag yourself on what you'd name the dog: Casserole, Charizard or Toothless?


End file.
